This is the discussion thread for our collaborative project to novelize FMA (the manga), so if you have any questions or ideas about the project, this is the place!

Here's how it works: Individual people take individual chapters and re-write them in novel format from the perspective of whichever character you choose. We would then compile them into one big thread, and everyone would be able to read the chapters people have submitted like a book.

Interested in joining? Just answer these simple questions, OR, if you just want to get to the writing, come on over here and make sure to read the rules!

1) Would you like to participate now or in the future?2) How would you like to contribute? Currently we're looking for writers.3) Do you have any suggestions/concerns about the way things are organized? Are there things you'd like me or anyone else to clarify?

I think this would be really fun, and with so many people's different styles and interpretations of the series we'd get to see it in a whole new light. Even if you've never written anything before in your life, you might find that it's something you really enjoy, and if you're nervous about your skills you can ask one of our beta readers for help.

Here is a list of our members so far for your reference \o/

Leader/Organizer: Aribelle

Editor:Backfired

Art:Backfired DistantBlue

Writers:AribelleRain-AlchemistDearheartElle-chanSal_sanS.F. ThunderDistantBlueCurrently looking for: WritersHOW TO JOIN:-To become a writer, please, either state your interest here or request your chapter here. There are no prerequisites to becoming a writer, but all written work will be subject to fact checking and proofreading by our lovely and talented team of editors

Broken Chouchou

Jul 25 2009, 12:33 PM

1. Yep. And yup.

2. I would very much like to help where I could be of use. I could definetly see myself doing some proofreading, though probably not by a strict schedual, it would most likely have to be when/if I have time over for it. And just so we are clear, proofreading means both checking that a certain piece written doesn't diverge too much from the original, official, canonical story (OOCS=handy acronym? x] ) , AND checking for possible spelling/grammar errors? I do not doubt in peoples ability to write on this forum, not at all. But I guess there should have to be some sort of minimum requirements at least for a text to get "published" within the MAIN arc?

I mean, a certain ammount of knowledge about english writing rules would probably be to prefer from possible entrys. If a text is too choppy or has too many errors, it just isn't pleasant to read.This not meaning that if you should fail to get your work accepted into the main story, that you can't get back to the lab, fix it up and resubmit it.

Just a suggestion

3. Strictly manga, for me.

4. As for organizing, I'm feeling pretty beat, so I don't really have access to the most useful parts of my brain right now x]

But let me just say, Aribelle, this really gets me excited. Can't wait 'till we get this started! And kudos to you for taking the first, awesome initiative!

kkg22104

Jul 25 2009, 12:49 PM

Wow, this thing will be epic if we actually get it going. I'm in!

1. YEEESSSSS

2. Sure, I think I could be a good editor/proofreader (I used to pick out mistakes in my friends' stories all the time and they'd all scream at me to read the story for content and not grammar/spelling XD) I'll help out as much as possible, but as soon as school starts I'll have to see how much time I have.

3. Manga only

4. No, I think you're doing a great job as project leader

Aribelle

Jul 25 2009, 12:55 PM

QUOTE (Broken Chouchou @ Jul 25 2009, 12:33 PM)

2. I would very much like to help where I could be of use. I could definetly see myself doing some proofreading, though probably not by a strict schedual, it would most likely have to be when/if I have time over for it. And just so we are clear, proofreading means both checking that a certain piece written doesn't diverge too much from the original, official, canonical story (OOCS=handy acronym? x] ) , AND checking for possible spelling/grammar errors? I do not doubt in peoples ability to write on this forum, not at all. But I guess there should have to be some sort of minimum requirements at least for a text to get "published" within the MAIN arc?

I mean, a certain ammount of knowledge about english writing rules would probably be to prefer from possible entrys. If a text is too choppy or has too many errors, it just isn't pleasant to read.This not meaning that if you should fail to get your work accepted into the main story, of course you can get back to the lab and fix it up, and send it in again.

Just a suggestion

I think a basic rule for everyone would be to stick to canon (but they can put their own spin/interpretation - just not to the point where anything contradicts the main story). I think it would be a good idea to have a list of people who are willing to beta in case anyone wants another pair of eyes to look over it, but if you're happy with your own work and don't feel like it needs to be proofread then you don't have to get it looked at.

But that's an interesting idea - perhaps there could be a "head beta reader" who gives the final okay looking for any glaring grammatical errors/plot inconsistencies. And of course no one would get "rejected" - like you said, they'd just clean it up and resubmit it.

That being said, what do you think should be the requirements? I'd probably just say these:-stick to canon plot-stay in character as best you can-correct spelling, formatting, and grammar

And then also perhaps for consistency's sake - just the same rules as fanfiction.net lines up for their stories (so this would not be allowed):

QUOTE

1. Non-stories: lists, bloopers, polls, previews, challenges, author notes, and etc. 2. One or two liners. 3. MST: comments inserted in between the flow of a copied story. 4. Stories with non-historical and non-fictional characters: actors, musicians, and etc. 5. Any form of interactive entry: choose your adventure, second person/you based, Q&As, and etc. 6. Chat/script format and keyboard dialogue based entries.

What do you guys think?

ps. \o/ yaaaay I'm glad people are interested

Dearheart

Aug 3 2009, 12:21 AM

*squeals* AAAHHHH THIS SOUNDS SO COOL!!!! *SPAZZES OUT*

Ehehe, sorry...it's just that I love writing and I've dreamed a lot lately of FMA being novelized so my no-comic-book family can properly enjoy the original manga story and this project is pure GENIUS and I'd love love LOVE to pitch in!! I also love the idea of everyone doing a little bit of it...like for me, I'm terrible with writing action and battles and whatnot, but I'm pretty good at writing description and digging into the characters and the emotional stuff. I have a feeling that everyone's strengths and weaknesses with writing will mesh together well in this project.

So when are we gonna kick this thing off? I know it's still pretty early, but I'm excited.

Afterthought: Hey, I know this may seem like a silly request to the rest of you, but...um...one of the reasons why my little sister can't read the manga is because of the language. I'm not asking that we censor ALL of it, but could we maybe skip a few of the worst words? Or at least the f words? Sorry if that sounds stupid... *blushes*

Aribelle

Aug 3 2009, 01:44 PM

\o/ Yaaaay! I'm so glad you're interested! We're actually going to get started right...now! Woohoo! And yes, we can absolutely edit out harsh language. Fictionratings.com has a guide here that you can check out, so I vote we keep everything K+ - T. And, since we'll be posting it here, everything has to fit with this forum's guidelines

So, here is the process for which we will get started! I'm going to put up chapters in groups of five, and people can claim which chapter they want on a first come first serve basis. You can do it in this thread or via PM/comment. Unfortunately, there will be no doubles. You can claim either parts of chapters or entire chapters - and if you claim part of a chapter you must specify which page numbers you want. Before choosing anything, please refer to this post to see what's been taken and what hasn't.

The guidelines for your writing are:-Stick to canon events!! You can take some liberties since you'll be writing from a specific person's point of view and therefore will have to do some interpreting of their emotions/inner thoughs, but please don't go overboard. Also, don't leave anything out.-Submissions cannot contain chatspeak, or inserted authors notes (you can do that before/after but not in between), and can't be in script/poem format.

kkg22104 will be our editor, so when you finish your writing send it to her and she will give it the once-over before we publish! (Thanks again for doing that!)

As for which translations to follow, just do what you can with what you have. As we all know, sometimes scanlations have embellished translations, but if that's all you have access to then just do your best ^^. You can also probably check out the tankoubons at your local library if you want Viz's translations.

(also, if you want a banner promoting the project check out this post ^^)

Dearheart

Aug 3 2009, 03:08 PM

And there was much rejoicing!! *does the Dearheart Happy Dance* YAY!!!

Hey, can I have the prologue? The first page, I mean? I "novelized" that part a long time ago, and it's been sitting on my hard drive for a while. It'd be nice to let it see daylight, lol.

Aside from that, I'm still deciding if there's anything else I'd like to tackle... *scrambles to reread a few parts*

Gimpyhair

Aug 3 2009, 04:36 PM

1) Hell YEAH!!2) I'm not sure if I would have the time, so I will say no for now.3) Just manga.4) You seem to be doing great!

It's an awesome project, but I'm just scared that there's not a lot of people who will participate in the writing process. Maybe by promotting the project in places like FF.net we will have more people. Talking about FF, are the final chapters going to be released in other places on the net, like FF.net?

Writing has always been a passion of mine; I'm working on a short story now, so if you want an example, I'll have it up on my DeviantArt probably this week sometime.

kkg22104

Aug 3 2009, 07:25 PM

Yay, I'm so glad more people are interested now! Thanks to Dearheart, Gimpyhair, and Rosicrucian!So if you want to write a specific chapter or section make sure to post here or PM Aribelle, then once you finish don't forget to send it to me so I can check/edit it Can't wait for this to get going!

Aribelle

Aug 3 2009, 08:13 PM

Zomg! More people! This is making me immensely happy :') HUGE THANKS YOUS to all of you!

@Dearheart - you've got it page one of chapter one (aka the prologue) is all yours. Like kkg22104 said, PM it to her and she'll proofread. Thanks again for contributing \o/ and let me know if you want anything else ^^

@Gimpyhair - yeah, right now there aren't a lot of people. However, I'm hoping that once we put out a few chapters people will see what we're doing and be interested in coming on board. I can definitely put a link to this thread on my account at ff.net, and we can definitely publish it on that site as well as have it in a thread here (and so maybe people can see it and come over to this site to help ). Perhaps we can make a joint account or something over there just for this project, but this would all be in addition to what we're doing here. It's definitely something to discuss! We could probably get a lot of support!

@Rosicrucian - thank you for volunteering to help organize! For now since there's just a few of us I think I'm all right, but as more people come I'm sure I'll need your help ^^

Thank you all for your interest! Don't forget to choose a chapter/part of a chapter! The sooner we get them covered the sooner we can publish ^^ I'd like to have at least three completed before we publish it, that way we have a little bit of a cushion so we can try to upload on a regular basis.

\o/ I'm so exciteddd! You're all awesome.

Broken Chouchou

Aug 4 2009, 10:19 AM

YOU are awesome, Ari. I can't believe we're about to get this going! I am seriously so happy that I PM'd you a few weeks back; I had no idea a little spark like that would ignite this full, creative blaze in you.

I mean, just look at all the sigs you've made, for an example. Incredibly awesome. And just taking the time to come up with rules, guidelines, and just organizing all of this. Thanks for being so engaged. I'm sure everybody else are just as grateful, and hopefully as excited, as me

And thanks to everybody else participating: lot of people makes lot of FUN!!

Now on to the picking. I'm dying over here to get to novelize the Liore arc. Chapterwise that would mean chapter 1 and 2, but I guess, seeing as you go one chapter at a time, I'll have to settle with chapter 1. Well, if it's still available that is, If not, my secondary choice would be chapter 2.

And now to let out the emotions I've managed to supress so far during this post.

ZOMG-HOLY-....-f*!@ YEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!

There.

Apologize for cussing.

Excited.

Dearheart

Aug 4 2009, 11:15 AM

*giggles at ChouChou* Awesome, chapter 1! Squeeee!! *bounces* And while we're on the topic...would you mind much if I just did pages 15-18? Or would you rather just do the whole chapter? I don't mind either way. It's a cool scene; if you really want to do that part yourself, I totally understand. (And sorry if I'm butting in too much or anything! I'm not trying to hog all the good stuff! Really!)

Aribelle

Aug 4 2009, 12:39 PM

Okay, for now I'll put Broken Chouchou down for chapter one, and you both let me know what you decide ^^

Also - you can definitely pick more than one chapter! Just for consecutive chapters or entire arcs I think what we'll do is wait three days, and if no one claims anything then you can have it. Does that sound all right with your all?

Dearheart

Aug 4 2009, 02:50 PM

Sounds good to me!

Hey, I have a suggestion...and sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious here or if no one else agrees; I'm just throwing this out there, just in case... As we all know, Arakawa has a wonderfully wacky sense of humor. Most of the comedy is in silly cartoonish visuals, and it's part of what makes FMA so much fun. One of the difficulties we'll have to work with while novelizing it is adapting that humor into novel format. (Again, sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious here.) I suggest that when we come to parts like that (Ed's short rants, for instance), let's try to make them work in a way that still brings out the delicious humor, but doesn't go TOO over-the-top. When I read a funny part in a book, I want it to be clever and make sense with what the rest of the story's put in my head. Um...am I making sense at all? XD

And this is just my opinion. If no one else agrees... *shrugs* That's cool.

DistantBlue

Aug 4 2009, 03:21 PM

1) Definitely. I would love to help.

2) I'd gladly proofread and check for consistency as well as write.

3) Manga, plz.

4) Well, one way we could do it is for the people we have so far to write, say, 3 entire chapters (IMO, I think it would be a bit difficult for people to pick from chapters and have other people fill in the rest) from chapters of our choice, but have 5 in mind in case someone else really wants to do the same ones (say, for me, it could be 39, 97, and 70, and then my backup would be 72 and 94). That way we'd get to write the chapters we're really eager to write.

But after we write those three, you Aribelle would assign us three chapters to write from the chronological order (ex, someone would be given 1-3, I would be given 4-6, and so on), just so we get ALL the chapters written and not just the ones people want to do.

BTW, And your proposed organization plan sounds solid to me.

Also, I hope I don't sound bossy or picky or anything about my little idea! I think this is a great project, and I just wanted to contribute an idea so that we'd be able to do the chapters we REALLY SUPER BADLY want to do, along with the others (they all sound fun to write, tho!).

SQUEEE I REALLY WANT TO WRITE NOW.

EDIT: Scratch the 'assigning'. I like your above idea of throwing out five chapters at a time and so on.

Aribelle

Aug 4 2009, 07:09 PM

QUOTE (DistantBlue @ Aug 4 2009, 03:21 PM)

2) I'd gladly proofread and check for consistency as well as write.

Awesome! For that I'll have you talk to kkg22104, since she's our head editor, and she can let you know what she needs help with

QUOTE (DistantBlue @ Aug 4 2009, 03:21 PM)

4) Well, one way we could do it is for the people we have so far to write, say, 3 entire chapters (IMO, I think it would be a bit difficult for people to pick from chapters and have other people fill in the rest) from chapters of our choice, but have 5 in mind in case someone else really wants to do the same ones (say, for me, it could be 39, 97, and 70, and then my backup would be 72 and 94). That way we'd get to write the chapters we're really eager to write.

The only reason I don't want to let people choose future chapters quite yet is because then some of the earlier ones might get neglected. However, I also do know that some people really have their heart set on chapters that I haven't put up to be claimed yet, and I do want to try my best to accommodate that. Here's what propose (and this is completely up for discussion - I'd love to hear your ideas):

People who wish to reserve a future chapter can do so once every seven days, and once the group of chapters that contains the one you reserved is up for grabs, you have first dibs on it for 3 days (or some other reasonable amount of time), and if you don't claim it within that time or you change your mind it will go to someone else.

So, for example, I could reserve chapter 67 now, and then when chapters 66-70 are up for grabs I'd have 3 days to confirm that I still want it.

We can also have a waiting list of sorts, so if there's a really popular chapter reserved by more than one person, and the first person who reserved it backs out it'll go to the next, and so forth.

What do you guys think? I would like to come up with some sort of system for doing this that lets people get what they want but that also safeguards against entire strings of chapters getting monopolized lol.

And just to clarify - to claim something would be to request the chapter when it comes up (like 1-5 are now) and to reserve would be to request a later chapter.

DistantBlue

Aug 5 2009, 07:34 AM

QUOTE

The only reason I don't want to let people choose future chapters quite yet is because then some of the earlier ones might get neglected. However, I also do know that some people really have their heart set on chapters that I haven't put up to be claimed yet, and I do want to try my best to accommodate that. Here's what propose (and this is completely up for discussion - I'd love to hear your ideas):

People who wish to reserve a future chapter can do so once every seven days, and once the group of chapters that contains the one you reserved is up for grabs, you have first dibs on it for 3 days (or some other reasonable amount of time), and if you don't claim it within that time or you change your mind it will go to someone else.

So, for example, I could reserve chapter 67 now, and then when chapters 66-70 are up for grabs I'd have 3 days to confirm that I still want it.

Yeah, that makes sense. That's where my idea of you assigning chapters to us came in, with the fear of other chapters getting forgotten and unwritten, but I saw your idea of throwing out five chapters at a time and then claiming one.

Okay, so until next Wednesday, I can only reserve one chapter? Got it....so, could I reserve Ch. 94? I've looked over all five I've chosen and that's the one I'd like to write the most. (Even though I won't be writing it for a while, LOL).

QUOTE

We can also have a waiting list of sorts, so if there's a really popular chapter reserved by more than one person, and the first person who reserved it backs out it'll go to the next, and so forth.

What do you guys think? I would like to come up with some sort of system for doing this that lets people get what they want but that also safeguards against entire strings of chapters getting monopolized lol.

And just to clarify - to claim something would be to request the chapter when it comes up (like 1-5 are now) and to reserve would be to request a later chapter.

I like the waiting list, and the whole system. Seems like it will work out great!

hand-made-city

Aug 5 2009, 11:45 AM

I was just briefed on this by DistantBlue, and I'm really interested in helping out! Not sure what I'll be able to do, but when the time comes, I'd love to be able to write for chapter 50. But anyway, I'll watch this thread and help out where I can!

Broken Chouchou

Aug 5 2009, 12:04 PM

I feel redundant. I don't feel there's anything I can contribute with when it comes to organizing this, you guys are already doing such a great job And this "claiming & reserving"- system seems good to me.

The only idea I have to come with is this: If we are in fact attempting to do a novelization, I feel we should adjust our work to actually fit a real novel. I am mostly talking about chapter divisioning. Having about a 100 shorter chapters feels a little inconvenient for a novel. So what if we would be to take, say, 3-5 chapters and put them together into a "big" chapter?

Example: Let's say I novelize the first two chapters of the story, and Dearheart the two chapters after that. Then we (or kkg22104, our main editor) take(s) our four chapters and mesh them togehter into a larger one, with a fitting chapter title. Of course, if the stories in these particular chapters would vary too much from one to another for the entire "big" chapter to feel consistent, you could perhaps have some sort of interludes, or split it into different parts of the particular meshed chapter in question.

Example 2:

Chapters 1 and 2 of the manga, The Two Alchemists and The Price of Life, could make one part (seeing how the story int those two chapters follow eachother directly), possibly entitled Chapter 1, part 1: "Ed and Al goes adventuring in Liore!" (well, obviuosly someone would have to think of a better name, that was just an example..)

Then Chapter 3 of the manga, The Mining town, could probably do as a single part on it's own, considering the following chapter has a totally different plot device. Or, if some dedicated soul feels like merging those two completely different chapters into one part of the main, big, novel-chapter, and is able to make it work, then that'd be fine too of course.

Just thought of something else (crap, this is getting complicated):

If I write a particular chapter, and somebody else writes the one directly after, it might be a good idea to split those two chapters into two different parts, within the main big chapter, even if we are dealing with two manga chapters that are direclyl connected. The reason? Different people have different writing styles, and if suddenly one style would jump to another completely different, that'd probably be a bit confusing for anyone reading. So I guess the best would be to have every part of the main chapter credited to the person who wrote it, and not to have two different people's novelizations of manga chapters included in the same part of the main big novel chapter.

WOW, I don't know if I'm making any sense. At all. I'm tired, so if I'm being inane/weird/stupid/redundant (deja-vu!), PLEASE, tell me so right away. Give it to me. Slap me in the face and shout it out loud, maybe that'd wake me up from the mental comatose I feel like I'm currently in xD

ANY-EFFING-WAY, I'm gonna try and collect my thoughts in an attempt to wrap this up.

Fewer, longer chapters divided into different parts, depending on who wrote what and how much = good. A certain part written by a certain person should be credited to said person in beginning of said part.

Title for big, main chapter (the one including the several, shorter parts, Chapter 1, part 1 etc.) should be a uniform title reflecting the contents of the chapter.

THERE. I think that's all I wanted said.

Oh, man. Hope anyone understands what this overly redundant ramble was all about. I barely do myself. My brain is worn out from working, not sleeping, and being in frickin love.

Also, I guess being a teenager and all that comes with it doesn't really help with the smarts.

---

QUOTE (Dearheart @ Aug 4 2009, 12:15 PM)

*giggles at ChouChou* Awesome, chapter 1! Squeeee!! *bounces* And while we're on the topic...would you mind much if I just did pages 15-18? Or would you rather just do the whole chapter? I don't mind either way. It's a cool scene; if you really want to do that part yourself, I totally understand. (And sorry if I'm butting in too much or anything! I'm not trying to hog all the good stuff! Really!)

I'm flipping and re-flipping through those pages, and can't really see what's so special about it. Are you referring to the scene where Rose asks Cornello when he'll be able to bring her boyfriend back?

Anyway, as DistantBlue said, I think it'd be best to do one whole chapter on your own, and not just do a couple of pages here and there, to keep complications to a minimum. Besides, I would really feel more satisfied with doing it myself

Sorry x]

QUOTE (Dearheart @ Aug 4 2009, 03:50 PM)

Hey, I have a suggestion...and sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious here or if no one else agrees; I'm just throwing this out there, just in case... As we all know, Arakawa has a wonderfully wacky sense of humor. Most of the comedy is in silly cartoonish visuals, and it's part of what makes FMA so much fun. One of the difficulties we'll have to work with while novelizing it is adapting that humor into novel format. (Again, sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious here.) I suggest that when we come to parts like that (Ed's short rants, for instance), let's try to make them work in a way that still brings out the delicious humor, but doesn't go TOO over-the-top. When I read a funny part in a book, I want it to be clever and make sense with what the rest of the story's put in my head. Um...am I making sense at all? XD

And this is just my opinion. If no one else agrees... *shrugs* That's cool.

I completely agree. But seeing as everybody will have different takes and interpretions of certain events, or in some cases the overall story, I think it should be up to each author to do as he wishes. That said, I still think we could at least TRY and make the funny parts actually funny, without going overboard with it all by exaggerating, or using too immature jokes. As you said, book-humor is more often clever than the direct visual humor you get out of comics, for an example. And I'm convinced that can be done with FMA, "converting" the crazy hilarious visual Arakawa-humor into something a little more sober, and realistic, and kind of well thought-out.

Or so.

And with that, I bid you goodnight. I'm out. Gonna go lie down on the couch for a while.

nyah, hello! this sounds really cool, i was wondering if i would be able to do chapter 53? pweeeeeeeese? thankyouuu

Aribelle

Aug 5 2009, 12:33 PM

QUOTE (DistantBlue @ Aug 5 2009, 07:34 AM)

Okay, so until next Wednesday, I can only reserve one chapter? Got it....so, could I reserve Ch. 94? I've looked over all five I've chosen and that's the one I'd like to write the most. (Even though I won't be writing it for a while, LOL).

Okay

QUOTE (hand-made-city @ Aug 5 2009, 11:45 AM)

I was just briefed on this by DistantBlue, and I'm really interested in helping out! Not sure what I'll be able to do, but when the time comes, I'd love to be able to write for chapter 50. But anyway, I'll watch this thread and help out where I can!

Awesome! We're glad to have you with us ^^ I'll put you down as having reserved chapter 50.

QUOTE (Broken Chouchou @ Aug 5 2009, 12:04 PM)

I feel redundant. I don't feel there's anything I can contribute with when it comes to organizing this, you guys are already doing such a great job And this "claiming & reserving"- system seems good to me.

The only idea I have to come with is this: If we are in fact attempting to do a novelization, I feel we should adjust our work to actually fit a real novel. I am mostly talking about chapter divisioning. Having about a 100 shorter chapters feels a little inconvenient for a novel. So what if we would be to take, say, 3-5 chapters and put them together into a "big" chapter?

I think what we're going to do is release them as volumes (so our first "chapter" will contain all the chapters in volume one). We can use linebreaks, spaces, and other formatting to distinguish between parts where one events ends and another begins.

QUOTE (Dearheart @ Aug 4 2009, 03:50 PM)

Hey, I have a suggestion...and sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious here or if no one else agrees; I'm just throwing this out there, just in case... As we all know, Arakawa has a wonderfully wacky sense of humor. Most of the comedy is in silly cartoonish visuals, and it's part of what makes FMA so much fun. One of the difficulties we'll have to work with while novelizing it is adapting that humor into novel format. (Again, sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious here.) I suggest that when we come to parts like that (Ed's short rants, for instance), let's try to make them work in a way that still brings out the delicious humor, but doesn't go TOO over-the-top. When I read a funny part in a book, I want it to be clever and make sense with what the rest of the story's put in my head. Um...am I making sense at all? XD

And this is just my opinion. If no one else agrees... *shrugs* That's cool.

Yes definitely - Everyone has their own writing style, so I'm sure everyone will try their best to get her humor across

Okay. I've got you down for chapter one already and I'll add you as chapter two, and I'll see that you get 30 reserved

@Forsaken Love - yes, you can reserve that one ^^

To make this process easier, I'm going to create a separate thread only for claiming and reserving chapters. We'll still use this thread as a place where everyone can share ideas/ask questions/discuss rules though.

Forsaken Love

Aug 5 2009, 01:04 PM

yay! thanks, *starts writing*

Dearheart

Aug 5 2009, 01:36 PM

QUOTE

I'm flipping and re-flipping through those pages, and can't really see what's so special about it. Are you referring to the scene where Rose asks Cornello when he'll be able to bring her boyfriend back?

Anyway, as DistantBlue said, I think it'd be best to do one whole chapter on your own, and not just do a couple of pages here and there, to keep complications to a minimum. Besides, I would really feel more satisfied with doing it myself

I was actually referring to the part when Ed rattles off the elements that make up a human body. I've always liked that scene, for some reason. But yeah, I totally understand. It's cool. And you're totally right; mixing writing styles probably wouldn't work very well. Anyway, can't wait to see what you do with it! I'm so excited to see what everyone has up their sleeves!

Okay...could I please reserve chapters 17-19 (aka the Rush Valley arc, aka "A Thesis on Why Winry Is Awesome")? I know it's not everyone's favorite part of the manga, but I personally love it. Winry's one of my favorite characters; I'd love to do that part. Or are we not allowed to reserve/claim more than one chapter? Sorry if that's the case! If we're only allowed to grab one, it's fine.

Aribelle

Aug 5 2009, 02:00 PM

We're allowed to reserve one chapter per 7 days, so I'll put you down for 17

Also - ANNOUNCEMENT! - here is the claim and reserve thread. Everyone please make all requests in that thread, and we'll keep this one for discussion/questions

Broken Chouchou

Aug 5 2009, 02:21 PM

Gotcha.

I have a question, actually. (Screw being tired, I'm eager too start writing)

I'm wondering about how to best portrait Liore. Should it be in a deserty climate, as in the first series, or is it more of a little rural town out on the countryside?

I have no idea what the official manga - version of Liore is like. Anybody here does?

Help much appreciated

kkg22104

Aug 5 2009, 02:24 PM

QUOTE (Broken Chouchou @ Aug 5 2009, 05:21 PM)

I'm wondering about how to best portrait Liore. Should it be in a deserty climate, as in the first series, or is it more of a little rural town out on the countryside?

I have no idea what the official manga-version of Liore is like. Anybody here does?

Er, to be honest, I'm not too sure myself. XD I suppose it's your choice as the author, if Liore seems to fit as a desert to you then write it that way. Or do whatever you think is convenient as long as the rest of it still fits with the manga. Can't wait to read your first chapters, Chouchou! (Is that what I should call you? )

Broken Chouchou

Aug 5 2009, 02:47 PM

Ok. Well.. kinda tough making that decision, I can picture Liore either way, but I don't know which verison I like better ^^'

And sure, you can call me that, I mean, I've become painfully aware that Chouchou is in fact the the name of a series of baby dolls... That was not what I had in mind when coming up with the name, but whatever... x)

Dearheart

Aug 5 2009, 03:37 PM

Hmm...I actually never pictured Liore as a "little rural town". I mean, if you look at pictures like these (1,2,3), you can see off in the distance that it's a pretty big city with lots of tall buildings. Maybe not like New York City, but still... Just thought I'd point that out.

Broken Chouchou

Aug 5 2009, 04:05 PM

Ok, thanks. Yea, I've never really pictured Liore as "little" either, I was just trying to make a comparison. As seen in some shots from Brotherhood, it definetly feels more like it's out on the countryside, and the color scales of the buildings range from cream to blue and pink, and the whole feeling you get is like you'd be walking through a pretty town with nice houses, green, lush trees and possibly a little canal or something ^^

Or maybe that's just me.. x)

kkg22104

Aug 5 2009, 05:58 PM

Speaking of Liore, I just remembered this page in the manga where it shows it spelled as Reole. So that got me thinking, there are so many spelling variations for spellings and names, for example: Lin/Ling, RanFan/LanFan, Mei/May, Ishval/Ishbal, etc. We should keep spellings consistent throughout the novel, right? So should we stick to Viz translations or other versions? Er, what do you guys think?

Rainshine

Aug 5 2009, 06:39 PM

I don't know if this is too late but...

1) Yes and yes. 2) Maybe... 3) I would like to stick to the manga... but an anime one would be cool too.

4) Nope.

Aribelle

Aug 5 2009, 06:45 PM

QUOTE (kkg22104 @ Aug 5 2009, 05:58 PM)

Speaking of Liore, I just remembered this page in the manga where it shows it spelled as Reole. So that got me thinking, there are so many spelling variations for spellings and names, for example: Lin/Ling, RanFan/LanFan, Mei/May, Ishval/Ishbal, etc. We should keep spellings consistent throughout the novel, right? So should we stick to Viz translations or other versions? Er, what do you guys think?

I think that's a great idea. There are even inconsistencies within Viz's translations...I personally don't really care which versions we use, but yes, we should be consistent. So would someone like to volunteer to make a "master list" of names to use?

QUOTE (Rain-Alchemist @ Aug 5 2009, 06:39 PM)

I don't know if this is too late but...

1) Yes and yes. 2) Maybe... 3) I would like to stick to the manga... but an anime one would be cool too.

4) Nope.

It's never too late! Glad to have you with us ^^ be sure to check out the reserve and claim thread to request a chapter (if you already have one in mind)

DistantBlue

Aug 6 2009, 08:43 AM

Aribelle - here is a master list. Most of this comes from Kale Mustang's post on this thread.

EDIT: Will add more places later!AmestrisXingDrachmaAerugoResemboolIshvalReoleDublith

And I know there are more, and I'll add more as I find them.

Aribelle

Aug 6 2009, 09:07 AM

Awesome! Many thanks.

Also, since volume one is now fully claimed, I've up volume two up for anyone who's interested ^^

kkg22104

Aug 6 2009, 12:49 PM

@DistantBlue: Thanks for compiling that long list Also, don't forget to include place names too, like Resembool, Ishval, Reole, Dublith, etc. And if you want to be a proofreader, we can work together as editors and split up the work when people start submitting chapters

DistantBlue

Aug 6 2009, 05:54 PM

@kkg22104 - Oh, okay! I will definitely help with that.

Aribelle - in the first post, should we have a list so we know who submit chapters to and who's in charge of what? Like, something like this:

....mainly because I'm scrambling around trying to figure out who is doing what. XD

Aribelle

Aug 6 2009, 07:42 PM

@DistantBlue - I'll get right on that. I'd been thinking about doing that somewhere but hadn't gotten around to it haha.

Dearheart

Aug 6 2009, 10:22 PM

Gah, I still can't get over how awesome this whole thing is. I feel like we should have a special snazzy website just for this project or something. Once the ball really gets rolling, I mean.

*daydreams* projectfma.com...that has a nice ring to it...

DistantBlue

Aug 7 2009, 07:56 AM

Argh, problem.

I started writing my chapter in a third-person perspective of the characters over first-person. I realized that, tried to switch over to first person, and it was EPIC FAIL lawl. Is it okay for me to keep it in third person? It still is in a character's perspective, as in, I have their thoughts and emotions written between dialogue, it's just not directly the character saying things.

Aribelle

Aug 7 2009, 09:55 AM

Oh yeah, definitely. I'm doing mine in third person and the finished chapters/chapters I've looked over have been in third person too.

DistantBlue

Aug 7 2009, 10:02 AM

QUOTE (Aribelle @ Aug 7 2009, 09:55 AM)

Oh yeah, definitely. I'm doing mine in third person and the finished chapters/chapters I've looked over have been in third person too.

Oh, really? What a relief. I thought I'd have to rewrite the whole thing. DX

BTW, I'm working on both the covers and the master list. The list will probably be finished by Sunday.

Dearheart

Aug 7 2009, 10:41 AM

Lol, yeah you're cool. I've always preferred third-person-past-tense, actually (with a few rare exceptions). All the good books out there are in third person. First person just sounds too...I dunno...amateurish?

Anyway, nowadays I can never read something in first person without thinking of Twilight... (No offense to any Twilighters, hehe.)

Aribelle

Aug 7 2009, 10:45 AM

Yeah, I usually prefer it also, although there are some great first person works out there. It depends on the voice and whether or not I like the character who's perspective it is XD

And @DistantBlue - that sounds great! Thanks again for doing that part. Take as much time as you need.

kkg22104

Aug 7 2009, 10:52 AM

QUOTE (Dearheart @ Aug 7 2009, 01:22 AM)

Gah, I still can't get over how awesome this whole thing is. I feel like we should have a special snazzy website just for this project or something. Once the ball really gets rolling, I mean.

*daydreams* projectfma.com...that has a nice ring to it...

Lol, getting all professional now, are we? I think once we start actually posting chapters and volumes, we can also promote this on ff.net and see if people over there want to help. I don't know if it'll get big enough for a website though XD

About the first/third person thing, third person seems more popular and easier to read. You guys know the difference between omniscient and limited, right? Limited is like Harry Potter, where the author only knows what's happening inside Harry's head, and omniscient knows everyone's thoughts. For FMA...I don't know which is better, I guess it depends on the specific chapter.

Aribelle

Aug 7 2009, 10:59 AM

QUOTE (kkg22104 @ Aug 7 2009, 10:52 AM)

Lol, getting all professional now, are we? I think once we start actually posting chapters and volumes, we can also promote this on ff.net and see if people over there want to help. I don't know if it'll get big enough for a website though XD

About the first/third person thing, third person seems more popular and easier to read. You guys know the difference between omniscient and limited, right? Limited is like Harry Potter, where the author only knows what's happening inside Harry's head, and omniscient knows everyone's thoughts. For FMA...I don't know which is better, I guess it depends on the specific chapter.

Ahaha, I don't think I have the money to run a website for this project XD but yeah, I can ask some of my friends on ff.net if they'd be interested in coming here and joining, and I can also put a link to this thread on my profile .

I've been writing in third person limited (I dunno, personally I never was a huge fan of omniscient), but sometimes I'll put a line break between scenes and change perspectives. But sometimes you have to do that lol, you can't write something from Ed's perspective if he's not in the scene.

DistantBlue

Aug 7 2009, 11:03 AM

QUOTE

I've been writing in third person limited (I dunno, personally I never was a huge fan of omniscient), but sometimes I'll put a line break between scenes and change perspectives. But sometimes you have to do that lol, you can't write something from Ed's perspective if he's not in the scene.

@Aribelle - that's exactly what I've been doing. With all this 'character perspective' stuff in earlier posts, I was all worried I would have to stick to one perspective throughout the chapter and in first person. That would be a nightmare for me! XD

I'll try to find people to join as well.

hand-made-city

Aug 7 2009, 12:24 PM

I'm relieved that we're sticking to third person... I don't like writing in first person too often, and second person is just.... BLEH. ^^ Anyway, I shall start some volume covers soon, and I'll write up my chapter later!

Where will the finished product be? Will we form a new thread with the finished version, so that everyone in the forums can find it easily? I guess that would make the most sense.. and I wonder how soon we'll start seeing people's chapters..

Aribelle

Aug 7 2009, 02:24 PM

We will indeed have a thread for it here. We can post it on ff.net if we want, but that would be in addition to what we already have here.

I'm so excited to see it start coming together!! \o/

Broken Chouchou

Aug 10 2009, 09:01 AM

Give me a gun. A huge effing skull-shattering gun. I had written about 8 pages in Word, covering the first 27 pages of the manga. And I was getting to feel happy with it, like, really happy. Was so psyched about submitting it to the project.Then my computer got all screwy and it was all erased, in a flash. I swear, I almost threw the damned laptop out of the window. Restrained myself, though. So now I'm back at square one. I'm gonna have to work my [All hail lord Xenu] off, and not even that might be enough...

Sigh...

EDIT: DistantBlue, concerning the official names, I really think Liore sounds better... But I suppoese it's a little late saying that now. Anyway, if Reole is the correct translation I guess that's the one we should go with.

EDIT2: My step dad is awesome! He just made this day a lot better; somehow he was able to restore my computer to the way it was yesterday night, before I lost the documents. That's pretty awesome, IMO He's awesome. And now I'm gonna go watch Batman Begins. Peace, folks, and good luck with the writing! Can't wait to see what everyone will do with their pieces

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